Brian walked back to his car, the machine in its case held in his left hand, while he found his car keys in his pocket with his right.

He couldn't believe he was leaving Scott so small, and that Scott had wanted to be that size. He wasn't even as big as a finger. Why Scott wanted to be that size Brian didn't know, but it gave him a little thrill to think that he controlled the only way back to normal. The nearest commercial machine was 600km away, at least as far as he knew.

He opened the driver’s side door and got in. He pushed his machine into the passenger side footwell and covered it with a dark blanket. He wasn't going to make it obvious to anyone peering through the windows.

He checked the time on the dash display, just about 6pm. He was meeting Adel, the waitress, at the pub at 6. He might be a few minutes late, be she'd wait. He wasn't sure of the details of what she wanted, but he could guess the machine was involved. He was glad Scott said she had a boyfriend, which probably meant she wasn't interested in him... She wasn't quite his type, or at least it seemed that way from first impressions.

He'd only finished it a few days ago, mostly just to see if he could build one. It had cost him almost $2,000, but that was the fraction of the cost of a commercial unit. His was only suitable for small scale stuff, but maybe he could use it to make at least some of that money back.

He started the car. He hadn't really thought about shrinking people with it until Matt had laid out the idea for Scott's photo shoot yesterday, but there was no reason it couldn't be used like this. Maybe he'd have to start charging.

He drove, thinking about a business plan for the machine. "The machine" was as silly a name as "Boson Ray", there was nothing mechanical about it. It was all just quantum physics, changing interactions of fundamental particles by altering fields. But he just hated Boson Ray, so he called it the Machine instead.

He found a parking spot close to the pub, checked that the machine was reasonably out of sight, and made his way inside. He checked the time on his phone 6:04pm. Not too bad. He went to the dining area and saw Adel sitting at a table with another man.

Adel waited with Dave in the pub. They'd been there since 5:50pm, waiting for the man with the Boson Ray to arrive. She thought that he was called Brian, but may have misheard the conversation he and his friends were having.

She felt a sense of anticipation. Something was going to come out of this dinner, she knew it.

She looked at her boyfriend, Dave. He was a great guy, which was for sure. He was kind, gentle and considerate. He looked great, lean but muscular, his triathlon training showing through his physique. He was, even he accepted, short. At 165cm he was a good 10 centimetres shorter than the average male.

While he was physically stronger than her, she was about 2 centimetres taller than him. What she really wanted was for him to be bigger than her. Really bigger than her, even if only for a little while. She hoped this Brian guy would help out.

Brian looked at Adel as he approached the table. She was about 5cm shorter than him, maybe a little more, he knew. She was built on the smaller end of average, but her waitressing clothes betrayed some great curves. Her wavy hair was a deep red, but clearly a natural colour, and she kept it around collar length.

She looked nice enough, but the note she'd passed him at lunch meant he wasn't so inclined to like her... It just seemed a little underhanded. Still, he had to give her a chance, which he was doing as he was here.

The guy who was with her, though, was defiantly attractive. Lean and muscular, not as bulky as Scott, and he was certainly shorter, though Brian couldn't tell how tall he was right now.

Adel looked up and saw Brian approaching them. He was a bit taller than either of them, skinny. Not quite her type, but there was a certain amount of cute about him. He stopped when he reached the table.
"Adel, isn't it?" he asked
"Yes, Brian?"
"Yep." he said, offering his hand.  She took it and shook.
"This is my boyfriend Dave"
"Pleased to meet you." said Brian, offering his hand again.
"You too." said Dave, as he half stood and shook his hand. "Please sit down."
Brian took the seat in front of him.
"Take a look at the menu Brian," said Adel, "we're ready to order, so decide what you'd like then we'll talk."
"Sure" said Brian. "I had to take an unplanned detour on the way."
"No problem" said Dave, flashing a winning smile "I'll get some drinks. What would you like?"
"Just a coke for the moment, thanks."
"Sure.  Adel?"
"House white, please darling."
Dave nodded, and set off to the bar.
"No alcohol?" Adel asked, while Brian looked at the menu.
"I haven't eaten since lunch, so I need some food first."

Dave waited at the bar, glancing back over to the table.  He could see his girlfriend sitting there talking to the stranger.  Brian was good looking, he thought, though perhaps not to everyone's taste.  He clearly wasn't athletic, but his mannerisms already betrayed a thoughtful person.  He really hoped that he was up for what he and Adel had planned.  It could turn out to be quite a wild night.

He ordered the drinks and carefully carried the three glasses back to the table.  He placed the wine in front of Adel, gave Brian is coke and settled down with his beer.
"It's my treat tonight, Brian." he said "Order what you like."
"Are you sure?" he asked
"Absolutely."
Brian stared intently at the menu for a few more minutes before closing it.  As if on cue the waiter arrived.
"Are you ready to order?" he asked
"Yes, I think so." Dave replied.  The other two nodded. "I'll have a rump. With salad and chips."
The waiter looked at Adel "The parma, please."
"Salad or vegetables?" the waiter enquired
"Salad, please, but no chips."  He noted that down on his pad.
"The scotch fillet," said Brian, "Salad and chips, please."
"So that's a rump with salad and chips, a chicken parmigiana with salad only and a scotch fillet with salad and chips?"
They all nodded.
"OK, we'll bring that out as soon as it's ready." he said and was gone.

They waited a full minute before Adel spoke again.
"So you might be wondering why I asked you here tonight," she started, "though I bet you probably have a good idea already."
"My machine." he said.  Dave nodded and grinned.
"Yes," said Adel, "I'd like you to shrink me. Or make Dave a bit bigger. Or maybe both."

Brian chuckled.

"What?" Asked Dave.

"Sorry," said Brian, "you caught me off guard with that one. I was thinking you wanted Dave small."

It was Dave's turn to chuckle.

"You may have noticed," he said, "but I'm already small."

"I've seen smaller." Brian replied. "How tall are you?"

"One sixty five."

Brian nodded. He hadn't really sized Dave up, but apparently the man was a good 10cm shorter than him. Brian knew he was pretty much average, so yeah, Dave could be called small, though he still had nothing on Scott at the moment.

"I know someone who'd call you tall." Said Brian. "But I take your point."

"Your friend?" Adel asked

"Yeah," said Brian "he's smaller than last time you saw him too."

"I liked him better when I saw him this morning."

Brian laughed. Despite Scott's feelings on the matter, he did look impressive as a giant.

"So you want to shrink?" Brian asked Adel.

"I'd like to grow." Said Dave. "We're having a disagreement on that."

"I'd say that there's a limit on how big you can conveniently be," said Brian, "do it outside and you'll draw attention, which I guess you don't want.  Do it inside you're limited by ceilings and walls. You can get a bigger size difference by shrinking."

"I'm not getting as small as your friend was." Said Adel.

"OK," said Brian, "how small will you go?" Then he turned to Dave, "And how big."

There was silence as they thought.

"Well we want to keep it inside. Our lounge room has a double height ceiling, so probably the biggest I could go is four times." Said Dave.

"I'm not going any smaller than a quarter, then." Countered Adel.

"So," said Brian, "that would make you one sixteenth of his size if we did both."

Adel appeared to gulp a little.

"How small was your friend at lunch?" She asked.

"Scott." Said Brian "He was one twentieth."

"That was small." she said.

"Really, I'd play it a little by ear." Brian continued, "Scott decided he wanted to be one fiftieth earlier, so I made him smaller. We can see how you feel when we get there"

"How big?" Adel and Dave asked together. Brian held up his hand, finger and thumb about 4cm apart.

"That's crazy." Said Dave. "I can't imagine wanting to be small. Especially that small."

"I think," Brian offered, "that it's a matter of perspective. He's a big guy normally. And I reckon he'll want get back to normal tomorrow, he's training for the national championships."

"So will you do it?" Asked Adel.

Brian thought for a moment. He'd reduced Scott to one fiftieth his normal size, he was smaller than his pinkie finger, and only he could make him big again.  The power the machine gave was fantastic, and he was being asked to use it again.  How could he turn this couple down?  The waiter arrived with the first of their meals.

"Yes," said Brian, "yes I will."

"Excellent," said Adel, "let’s enjoy our dinner and then head back to our place."

Adel entered their townhouse and switched on the lights.  She walked through the entrance, past the kitchen into the open plan lounge and dining area.  She looked around, thinking that if they were going to make Dave bigger, then they should move some furniture.  And pull down the blinds.

The stairs on the left lead up to a landing that overlooked the left half of the room where they had put the lounge and TV.  The ceiling at this point was probably five metres high.  At four times his height Dave would have to stoop, but sitting certainly wouldn't be a problem.

She shivered at the thought of Dave towering over her.  Whether she shrank or he grew, he was finally going to be bigger than her.  Much bigger.

Which would they try first?  The thought of the world getting bigger made her nervous, but she really wanted her man to be giant, so she'd swallow that little bit of fear and roll with it.

Dave followed Adel into their home.  He thought about the idea of being able to pick her up in one hand.  Yes, he might be small, but he was strong enough to pick up his girlfriend, but to be able to do it in one hand? Yep, that would be special.
"I think we should push the couch and coffee table back out of the way." Adel interrupted his thoughts.
"Yeah," he agreed, "good idea."
"And pull down the blinds."
Together they pushed the couch over to their small dining table.  Dave picked up the coffee table and placed it upside down on the couch.  The TV was wall mounted... they'd just have to watch it.  He unplugged the Blu Ray player and took it and the small set of draws it rest on over to the couch too.  They had cleared a good three by five metre space.

Dave found the hook on a pole that was meant to make it easy to pull the blind down over the floor to top-level-ceiling windows.  He extended his arm and tried to get the hook in the plastic circle that hung from the short string.  He stood on tip-toes and the hook brushed the circle and set the string swinging.  He waited a moment and tried again.
"Who put these up last time?" he asked.
"My brother." replied Adel "when they stayed here with the kids at Easter."
Adel's brother was just shy of six feet tall, and would occasionally rib Dave about his height.  This, though, was probably pure thoughtlessness.
"Give it to me." Adel said.  He passed her the pole and watched as she got the hook in.  He looked down and remembered the two inch heels she was wearing.  He was eye level with her mouth tonight.  She hooked the blind and pulled it down to within their reach.  He grabbed it and pulled it to the ground while she grabbed the second one.

He wasn't that insecure about his height, he didn't demand Adel wear flats all the time or anything like that.  He was 165 centimetres tall, and that was that. He did know that his slim, athletic build made people turn their heads. Equally, though, the idea of what they were going to do tonight turned him on.
"And you're OK getting Brian involved tonight?" he asked "Assuming he wants to."
"If he wants to." Adel agreed.
He stopped and thought, for a moment, about being six metres tall, having Adel appear 10cm in one hand and a quarter sized Brian in the other.

There was a knock on the door.  Adel went to answer it while the finished pulling the second blind all the way down.  She heard Adel invite the guest in, and turned around to see Brian, a case held in his left hand.
"Making room?" he asked.
"Best to be prepared." said Adel.
"So who's going first?" Asked Brian putting the case down.  Adel and Dave looked at each other.
"Flip a coin?" He suggested.
"I'll toss, you call. Winner goes first." Responded Adel, grabbing a coin from the breakfast bar that separated the kitchen from the lounge and dining room. She put the coin on her thumb. "Ready?"
Dave nodded, she flipped the coin.
"Tails" he called.
Adel caught the coin in one hand and flipped it onto the back of her other hand. She lifted her hand.
"Heads." She said. "Me first."

Adel felt a little thrill of excitement and fear.
"So," asked Brian, "do you want to do this in stages, or all in one hit?"
"How long will it take?"
"About 30 seconds." Brian answered.
"All at once." She said, "Let's do it."
"Can you stand there?" Brian pointed in front of the machine.
Adel to a step towards Dave, put her hand behind his head and drew him in for a kiss.
"In a minute," she breathed, "you'll be my giant."
The held the kiss for ten seconds before pulling apart.  She held his left and in her right and stepped towards the spot Brian had indicated. As she moved away she released Dave's hand and turned to face Brian.
"Do it."
Brian hit the final button. She felt a rolling wave of pins and needles roll over her body and noticed Brian getting slowly bigger. He wasn't a bad looking guy, she thought, and turned to Dave. He was much more to her liking. He was already taller than her. She took a step towards him, reached up... Up... And pulled him in for another kiss. She pushed her tongue into his mouth, feeling him getting bigger. He started to bend as she passed the four foot tall mark.  She released him and he stood up.

She was looking at the top of his stomach, he was starting to look really big. The t-shirt he wore hid his skin and muscles away from her view, but she imagined his pecs above her head getting bigger.
"Starting to feel bigger, babe?" She asked
"Yeah," he said, "you're getting small."
Her eyeline approached his waist, and she looked down.  She was approaching half her normal size, and imagined his penis as long as her forearm and almost has thick.  For a short guy he was pretty well endowed.

She put her hand on his thigh as his crotch passed overhead, feeling the firm muscle underneath.  It was almost as thick as her whole body now.  She looked up at her larger lover, and found him staring back down at her.

Dave couldn't help but feel excited as he watched Adel place her tiny hand on his thigh.  He could feel her small hands through his jeans.  He could easily pick her up now, though he wasn't going to do that just yet.  She was approaching his knee in height, and he knew she wouldn't get too much smaller. He felt a new sense of power as he towered over her.  He felt her hand slide down his thigh as her head passed his knee.  She was almost done.

Adel looked at Dave's knee, covered in thick blue denim.  He was really big.  This, she thought, was how he was meant to be.  He'd always been strong, but now he was big and even a little intimidating.  He now truly had the power to force her to do anything, not that he would.  His mind would provide restraint, as it always did, but the potential was there and it was thrilling.  She had stopped shrinking now.  His calves in her sight line.  She shivered with anticipation.

She pulled down on his jeans, and he knelt down.  She reached his belt line now.  He was still massive.  She reached out and pulled hard on the thick fabric, undoing the button.  She pulled on the stiff metal zipper.  She knew it would be huge to her now.  Pulling open his jeans, she could see the bulge growing in his underwear.  Grabbing the elastic with both hands she pulled it down, releasing his monstrous member.

It was longer than her arm, and thicker.  She placed one hand on each side and pulled her hands along its length.  She could feel his pulse quicken as more blood flowed into the appendage.

Dave couldn't believe Adel was there, so small.  Pulling on his cock, which had to be half her size.  She pushed back on him, and he laid himself gently on the floor.  She climbed up on his pelvis, she weighed so little.  His penis was as long as her leg.  She brushed her clothed crotch against the end, and then sat down, wrapping her legs around the base and arms further up his shaft.  She moved herself up and down, pushing against his pelvis.  She was so small she was using her whole body to get him off.  He couldn't believe it.  The pressure was building inside him, and he knew it wasn't going to take much.  His breath became more rapid.

Adel heard Dave's breathing change, and felt the massive penis begin to twitch.  He was holding back for a moment, but she was going to make him finish.  She pushed herself against him with renewed vigour, moving herself further up and down his shaft, faster and faster.  In seconds the felt the pressure peak under her hands and then felt it move past her to spray out the top above her head.

Some spattered in her hair and on her clothes, most of it ran down the far side of his cock.  She lay back on him, a self-satisfied smile on her face.

Brian looked on with a mixture of fascination and embarrassment.  He was invading this private moment, but he couldn't look away from the incredible sight of the tiny woman satisfying her man.

They lay together for a moment, his penis becoming flaccid.  Then Dave sat forward and scooped Adel up in his right arm.  With his left he reached out and grabbed some tissues from a box that sat on the benchtop behind him.  He quickly wiped himself off, letting the tissues fall on the floor.

Then the shorter man took a couple of steps towards him and leant in close.
"I can't thank you enough for this." he said.  Brian was surprised to feel Dave’s left hand come up behind his head and draw him forward.  He went with the motion, leaning down to the shorter man.  He opened his mouth slightly and Dave's tongue entered his mouth.

They kissed deeply for a couple of seconds, Adel shifted her weight against them both, raising herself up.  He felt one of her arms wrap part way around his neck as she drew both their heads towards her.

Brian let himself relax into the kiss that continued for another ten seconds.  He really could feel himself falling for the couple.  This was not what he had expected.

Dave broke off the kiss, and Brian realised that he had been standing on his toes to reach.  Brian lifted his head up and breathed for a moment.
"Um.." he said.
"I think," said Dave, "that I'd like my turn now."

Chapter 4
"Your turn?" Brian said. "Sure."
He waked back to the machine and pressed a few keys.
"All at once?" He asked, Dave nodded. "OK, ready?"
"Go." He replied.

Dave felt pins and needles flowing over his body. He looked down at Adel and saw her getting smaller. No, everything was getting smaller. No, he was getting bigger. He was already taller than Brian. Adel was at his mid-calf already, Brian at chest height.

This was what it was like to be tall? It was weird, but strangely exciting. Not that he was stopping at tall. He kept growing, and growing fast. Adel was heading towards his ankle, Brian towards his waist. He watched the lower ceiling level pass his line of sight.

Adel was surprised when Dave scoped her up in his hand. She guessed she was around 20cm tall to him now. She was slightly bigger than his hand, though that wasn't going to last long. He brought her up to his face and grinned.
"Adel," he said, "you always wanted a bigger boyfriend. How do you feel now?"
"You were bigger before. Now you're huge." She grinned. "I love it."
"I'm glad," he responded, "I know you weren't so sure about this size difference, but I think it will be great."
His head brushed the high ceiling and he bent over.  He guessed he'd be about a foot to tall on his scale, in reality about a metre twenty, but that meant he wasn't too far away from done.

He looked down at Brian, who was almost knee height to him now.  Less than a minute ago he'd been standing on his toes to kiss him.  Now he could probably bend down and pick him up in one hand.  Brian's Boson Ray was just amazing.

His shoulders touched the ceiling and he stopped growing.  He looked at Adel, not much bigger than the palm of his hand and grinned.
"I think it's your turn now, my love." he said, with a mischievous grin on his face.  As he sat down he gently tugged on her shirt and she lifted it over her head.  She reached around her back and undid her bra, tossing it off his hand onto the floor far below.  She undid her shoes and as Dave pulled them off, she undid her jeans, which followed.  Finally her panties made their way to the floor. 

He lifted her off his palm, thumb on her left side, index finger on her right, and lifted her to his face.  He grinned and licked her from head to toe.  She squired and shivered in delight.  He licked her again, and then brought his tongue down between her legs.  She moaned with pleasure as he worked at her.  He tasted her very quickly.

Looking down he noticed Brian turning to leave.
"No so fast, little man." he said.  He carefully placed Adel into his mouth, legs first and continued to work at her with his tongue.  He wrapped his hand around Brian's middle and lifted him up.

Brain looked up at the giant Dave who held him aloft, his girlfriend groaning with pleasure. She stopped for a moment, looked at him and said
"We want you to join in, or did we not make that clear?"
"Do I have a choice?" He asked.
"Of course," she said, "but I think this would be the fun option."
Brian thought for a second and nodded.

He felt Dave undoing his pants as Adel started moaning again. He reached down and began to unbutton his own shirt. Dave tugged of his shoes, socks and pants, then manoeuvred around removing his shirt. Dave pulled at his underwear, letting them fall to the ground, leaving him naked in the larger man’s hand.

Adel was in pure ecstasy; Dave's giant tongue was working more magic that she would have thought possible. Her breaths came more rapidly and her pulse soared as the large wet organ moved across her delicate areas. She couldn't believe this was happening. Her giant boyfriend was holding her in his mouth, pleasuring her. Her soft moans grew louder as she lost control. She pulled her torso up, grabbing Dave's nose. She came hard.

Dave used his free hand to remove her from his mouth. She leaned back in his hand, trying to catch her breath.
"Was it good for you?" He asked with a grin.
"Oh, defiantly."
"I can't help but notice," she said after a moment, "that you're the only one who's still clothed. And I really need to see your body like this."
"Maybe," offered Brian, "he should let us help him."
Dave looked down at the man he still held in his hand. He grinned, stretched out his legs and put one of them on each of his thighs. He then leaned back to give them better access to his waist. He saw Brian give Adel a look, he wasn't sure what it meant, but then the pair of them grabbed his t-shirt, lifted it and started walking up his stomach. He let them reach his upper stomach before helping them by grabbing it with one hand and pulling it over his head, removing one arm and then the other. He chuckled as the movement made the pair tumble slowly down to his waist again.
"Do you think you could lie down now?" Adel asked.

Dave silently complied with the request, putting his back on the ground he had to leave his legs slightly bent to fit in the available space. Brian stepped forward onto his skin, looking down at the faint outline of his abs, then up to his pecs, biceps and shoulders.
"Oh my..." He said.
"He's a very well formed specimen." Agreed Adel. "Triathlete."
The pair turned around and headed to his pants.

Adel looked down at the button at the top of the jeans. They were still open from her earlier ministrations. She nodded to the left leg, Brian returned the nod and stepped forward, walking down the leg to the massive shoes. Brian pulled at the thick rope-like laces, getting the knots undone. Adel was having less success, so Brian jumped down from his leg and joined her. They made short work of the second lace.  Brain descended to the floor, then lifted Adel down to the ground, together they heaved at the shoes, slipping first the right, and then the left shoes off. Brian made short work of the socks. He lifted Adel back onto Dave's leg, then climbed back up after her. The both returned to the waist, and taking one side each, started pushing the jeans and underwear down. They succeeded in moving the pants down, but only so far.
"Um... A little help?" Brian asked. Dave obliged by flexing his pelvis up, and the pair tried to push the pants further. They got a short distance, but the jeans wouldn't move.

Dave laughed at the efforts of the two smaller people, and then picked them both up, placing them on the ground beside him. He then grasped the jeans in his hand and pulled them off in one swift movement.
"We were going to be here all night," he said. He picked the pair up again, placing them on his stomach.

Brian looked down at Dave's member, feeling intimidated. It was a good 80 centimetres long from his point of view. Then he thought of Adel, and realised that it was twice her size.

He then felt Dave's large hand urging him to lie down.  He moved down and lay on Dave's stomach, while Adel approached him. She approached his crotch by walking between his legs, and started caressing his erogenous areas, making him twitch in shock and delight. He felt Dave gently caressing his body, and between their ministrations became hard in moments. He let out a satisfied groan, and realised this wasn't going to take long. Adel worked around his penis and his balls, she expertly played his pleasure centres while delaying his need to cum. He could feel his pulse rate rising, his breathing becoming more rapid.

Dave's hand slid him away from Adel and lifted him so his back lay on his palm. He was raised up as Dave sat up. He couldn't see where Adel was, but assumed Dave was taking care of her too. He was brought upwards so he looked straight into Dave's eyes. Dave leaned forward and took his penis into his mouth.

Dave's giant lips took him completely; tongue running over the head while the lips moved up and down the shaft. Dave closed his eyes, and Brian did the same. It took maybe twenty seconds before he shot the biggest load he could remember into Dave's mouth. Dave groaned in appreciation, and kept working until Brian was spent.

Dave lay back again, and placed Brian on his chest.
"That was amazing," Brian said.
"It's all been amazing." Said Dave. "Thank you."
"Yes," said Adel as she was placed beside him, "thank you."
Adel seated herself on her lovers chest and pulled Brian down.
"Lie down here with me." She said 
Brain lay and spooned the tiny girl. Dave placed a protective hand over both of them.

Dave looked down at the small man and his tiny girlfriend who were asleep on his chest and grinned to himself in quiet satisfaction.

Chapter 5

Brian woke up. He was unsure where he was for a few moments. The bed under him was warm, smooth and rose and fell gently. In the dim light he noticed Adel cuddled into his chest. He remembered the events leading up to his falling asleep and looked up to see Dave staring down at him.

"Hi." Dave whispered with a smile.

"Hi," replied Brian, "how long have we been asleep?"

"Only about an hour."

"OK." He looked at Adel, who was sleeping peacefully. Brian shivered and realised why he was awake. "I'm cold."

"Yeah," said Dave, "I was thinking about waking you, I'm cold too. Do you want to go grab some bedding?"

"Sure." He sat up, careful not to wake the sleeping woman. He scooted off Dave's chest. "Where am I going?"

"Head upstairs, just grab things off the beds." Brian stared climbing the stairs while Dave continued. "Second door on the right is the spare room, ours is ahead on the left."

Brian moved about quietly, taking two doonas and four pillows downstairs.

"So," he asked, "am I making you smaller, or these bigger?"

"I was thinking you could put Adel on the couch," he said, "then you could come up here with me."

Brian slipped on his shirt, underwear and pants to keep warm.  He arranged a pillow on the couch.

"Who'd operate the machine?" He asked.

"Surely you can set it up so I could just press the go button?"

Brian reached over Dave's chest and picked up Adel, moving back over to the couch he placed her head on the pillow, covering her in one of the doonas.

"Yeah," he said, "I could."

He felt a little nervous about this. He'd grown and shrunk four other people and loved that power. He was less sure about doing it himself. Though it felt hypocritical of him to be unwilling to do to himself what he'd done to others. Besides, cuddling up with Dave wasn't a bad prospect. He lent down to the machine, powering it back up. He entered the parameters.

"OK," he said, pointing at a green icon on the touch screen, "press that one."

"Green for go." Chuckled Dave.

"Standard UI toolkit."

Brian walked over and picked up the doona and pillows.

"Go." He said.

Dave pressed the button. Brian felt the pins and needles flow over his skin and watched as the world around him started to get smaller. He passed the bedding to Dave who layer it out on the floor. It was going to be a tight fit, but he was sure they would make it work.

Dave laughed at the bedding that was still only half his size, and looked over at Brian.

"Come here." He said. "Let me help you."

Brian approached and Dave reached out, pulling his unbuttoned shirt off his shoulders, drawing him in and kissing his collar bone gently. Brian was two thirds of Dave's size, he swiftly removed his pants, then planted kisses on Brian's chest.

Dave rolled Brian onto his back, he hit the couch and there was a crashing sound.

"Oh shit!" Said Brian, pushing Dave off him and rising to a sitting position. He spun around and he blood ran cold.

He looked down at the machine. The outer case was smashed, the emitter was bent and the exposed innards looked like a mess.

*  *  *  *

Adel woke up to the sound of Brian swearing.  She was on the couch, she noticed, with a pillow and a doona.  Dave was naked, kneeling behind Brian, a doona big enough for him over his shoulders.

"A couple of the boards are crushed, but the main board is intact.  I should be able to work around that with a PC or two." Brain was saying. "So control isn't too big a problem."

Adel got up and walked along the couch to the end and looked over.  Brian's Boson Ray was a mess.

"What the hell happened." she demanded.  She looked at Brian, who was now the size of Dave. "And when did that happen?"

Dave looked guilty. "I persuaded Brian he should grow.  There wasn't enough room when I rolled him over and this happened." He said, pointing at the broken device.

"Shit." Brian said. "The crystals are cracked."

"That isn't good?" Dave asked

"No." Brian sighed. "We probably can't move the machine without really breaking them. Even using it once might shatter them."

"You mean you can't get us back to normal?!" Adel shouted.

"Maybe, maybe not." said Brain, "If they break we just need to replace them, the problem is that the supplies aren't local."

"How long?"

Brain remained silent.

"How long?" Adel repeated

"A week." said Brain. "Maybe two."

"Shit."

"Let's worry about that when we get there.  I need a computer." said Brian. "We might be lucky."

Adel climbed the stairs, each of which was waist height to her. Entering their shared study she picked up her laptop from the couch, and was thankful she hadn't left it out of reach on the desk. She went to the balcony overlooking the lounge, lifted the laptop over her head onto the short wall and called out.

"Can you grab it from here?"

She felt the laptop pulled from her grasp and Brian called out "thanks".

"Crap." He said. "I'm going to need to type with a pen or something."

"Here you go." Said Dave. She imagined he had grabbed one from the breakfast bar.

She climbed slowly back down the stairs.

"Got what you need?" Dave asked Brian.

"I think so." He replied. "Just give me some time to concentrate."

*  *  *  *

Brian lost all sense of time. He carefully attached wires from the device to the laptop, using the USB port pins in place of a proper socket. He downloaded software from his online repository, configured it and ran it on the laptop. It fell over a couple of times before he compensated for his improvised connections.

Finally he had something he thought would work.

*  *  *  *

"What time is it?" Dave heard Brian ask. He realised he'd drifted off into a light sleep.  He looked down at Adel, curled up on his left pec, then up at the clock.

"5:30am" he replied.

"Well," said Brian, "I don't think our chances of this working are going to get any better."

Dave gently stroked Adel's side and whispered "wake up" to her.  She slowly raised her head.

"C'mon," he said, "Brian thinks he's got the machine working."

She stretched and got up.  She stood and Dave lifted her to the ground.  She approached Brian.

"You're sure." she asked.

"As sure as I can be, given I can't actually replace any of the components right now." he replied.  "The question is: who goes first."

"I've been thinking," said Adel, "the best chance would be to get you back to normal so you can repair it properly."

"That's logical," agreed Dave, "even if the machine only gets you back to normal, you'll be in a better position to fix it."

"There is one other possibility," Brian said, "and I'm sorry Adel."

"Why?" she asked.

"Because this still leaves you stuck." he replied. "But we should be able to get Dave and I in one go.  We're both changing from 4 times our size back to normal.  The additional strain is negligible, and it's two birds with one stone."

"No," Adel said, "that makes sense.  And having you both only four times bigger than me will be better."

"OK," said Brian. "Dave, get dressed.  Adel, I'll show you what needs to happen."

"Wait," said Dave, "why did you need to show her? I only had to push a button."

"Because," said Brian, "the control systems are gone.  This is going to be harder."

Adel stood in front of the laptop.  She understood everything Brian showed her.  The thing that made her nervous was the power level.  According to Brian, normally the machine would use a short burst at high power.  This time, to be safe, he'd set it to use a lower power for longer.  She had to make sure the power didn't go over the limit he'd set.

Brian left Adel at the laptop, which he'd set behind the couch in case the worst happened with the machine.  Adel would be reasonably protected.  He went and stood with Dave, who was now dressed, in front of the emitter.  He checked he had everything, which really just included his clothes.

"OK" he said, "you ready?"

Dave just nodded.

"Adel," Brain said, his mouth feeling dry, "fire."

The emitted buzzed.  It sent out a couple of small sparks, and then lit up as it fired.  One second.... two seconds.... three- There was a flash and a bang as the emitter unit itself exploded.

"Adel?" called Brian.

"I'm here." she called from behind the couch, "I'm fine."

He and Dave were shrinking, but he wasn't sure that the machine had fired for long enough.  They were no longer crouching, and were certainly less than three times the size they should be.

Brian approached the emitter, bent down and looked.

"Bugger." was all he said.  He continued to look over the remnants of the machine.  He looked inside. "Fuck."

"Not good?" asked Dave.

"Very not good." he replied. "I don't think the emitter lasted long enough, and the crystals have shattered.  I'll have to order new ones as soon as possible.  They’re not cheap."

"I think it's safe to say," said Adel, "that we're all more than happy to pay for this."

After another two minutes had passed, their slow rate of shrinking stopped.  They could easily stand up under an eight foot ceiling, but they certainly weren't back to their normal size.  Brain looked at Dave, who's head was just too high to fit through a door, and knew that he himself was probably a bit over seven feet tall.  He sighed.  At least Adel had been right; it would be easier for him to fix the machine now.  Once he got the parts.

"I think," he said to Adel and Dave, "that's all we'll get out of the machine right now.  Sorry Adel."

"It's OK." she said. "Just get me back to normal as soon as you can.  Then you'll be in real trouble."

"Scott." said Brian. "We have to go see him."

*  *  *  *

It was six thirty by the time they pulled up at Mary's place.  Brian was finding driving difficult.  Even with the seat back as far as it would go he was really too tall.  The trio walked down the path to the front door and rang the doorbell.  Then he banged on the door.  They waited a moment and Brain rang the bell again.  They saw a shadow from inside the house and heard the lock undo.  Mary stood there in a dressing gown.

"What the..." was all she said.

"Mary," said Brian, "we have to come in."

"But you're..." she said

"Yes," said Brian, "we know. You need to get Scott.  This is important."

"Wait in the lounge, I'll get him."

The trio headed into the lounge room and waited in silence for Mary and Scott.  Brian didn't want to look at any of them right now.  If he'd never given into Dave and used the machine on himself, then they wouldn't be here now.

Mary entered the lounge room, Scott zipping up his skinsuit in her hand.  She put her hand on the coffee table, he climbed down.

"What's going on?" he asked, looking up at the group.

"We have a problem." said Brain, "A big problem."  He kicked himself for the choice of words.

"Who's this?" Scott asked, pointing at Dave.

"This is Dave," said Brian, "and you met Adel yesterday."

"Will you just explain what you're doing here at 6:30 in the morning, and why you're all like that." said Mary, impatiently.

"Like what?" asked Scott

Brian looked down at the little man.  He and Dave were maybe twenty to thirty percent bigger than they should be, but in the context of being fifty times Scott's size...

"I doubt he can see it from his perspective." he said.

"Brian and Dave," said Mary, "they're over 2 metres tall.  And Adel is shorter than my knee.  What's going on?"

Brian let out a massive sigh.

"The machine." he said "It's broken."